British Army to get new uniforms – turned down by the US and made in China

The British Army is introducing a new camouflage design for all its soldiers after tests showed that it made them less likely to be seen by the enemy.

The new uniform has a combination of seven colours which help troops to merge into the backgroundPhoto: DAVID ROSE

By Jasper Copping

7:30AM GMT 20 Dec 2009

The new uniform has a combination of seven colours which help troops to merge into the background. Commanders hope the move – the biggest change to the uniform for more than 40 years – will help to reduce casualties in Afghanistan.

The design will replace both the "desert" camouflage used on operations in the country as well as the darker coloured, "temperate" – or "woodland" – camouflage worn by forces stationed in Europe and elsewhere.

Called "multi terrain pattern", or MTP, the camouflage will first be used in Afghanistan, from March next year. From 2011, it will be rolled out across units based elsewhere in the world. The old designs are to be phased out completely by 2016.

The uniform has been designed to give cover to soldiers operating in all types of terrain, across the globe. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) hope this will be of particular help in Afghanistan, where soldiers can find themselves, within a matter of minutes, crossing from arid desert to the lush vegetation of the "Green Zone" along the Helmand River, where their lighter coloured camouflage – designed for use in Iraq – does not offer the best cover. Indeed, when operating in the greener areas, which turn brown in the winter when the rains come, many troops revert to the "woodland", European camouflage.

British forces operating in Afghanistan reached a grim milestone earlier this month, with 100 servicemen killed this year and the new uniform has been designed to give them a new advantage in their fight with the Taliban.

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The design is derived from a camouflage called MultiCam, which was developed by an American company, Crye Precision, in association with the US Army. However, it was not ultimately adopted by Washington for its main uniform, although some units may still use it in the future. It is now available commercially and is used by sports gunmen.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has paid the US company an undisclosed sum for use of the new design and has secured intellectual property rights over the MTP camouflage to prevent others from using it without permission.

It comprises a total of seven colours, although the exact colours are not released by the MoD in order to make it harder to reproduce. The kit is to be produced by a Northern Irish company, but will be made in China.

Lt Col Toby Evans, who has been involved in the new design, said: "The strength of this is that sometimes it looks very green, Sometimes it looks very brown. It seems to work well wherever you are. Because of the variety of colours, there is always something to pick out which is quite close to the background."

The design process, which has taken six months and cost £250,000, involved a combination of computer analysis, where the colours from a variety of Afghan landscapes were studied, performance tests and also a "focus group" session, involving servicemen.

The MoD said the tests showed that soldiers wearing the new design were less likely to be spotted than those dressed in other camouflage and when they were, it took three times longer to be picked out than those in the next best performing pattern.

The focus group phase involved a "fashion show" of up to 60 soldiers. Modern-style "digital" or "pixilated" camouflages, which are used by, among others, the Canadian and Germany military, were rejected as being "too 1990s."

Lt Col Gary Jackson, who was involved in the process, said: "I think Richard Holmes (the historian) said, 'there's something of the dandy in all military people'."

Other designs filtered out included some that bore resemblance to uniforms of the Second World War Waffen SS units.

The final design retains the same distinctive "splash" patterns as previous British uniforms.

As well as the clothes, new helmets, body armour and webbing – belts with pouches – will also be introduced in the new design which will be used by the Royal Marines and the RAF Regiment. More formal, "service dress" will remain the same.

Lance Cpl Alex Wood, from 40 Commando Royal Marines who served in Afghanistan last year and will be returning in March when the new uniform will be first used, said: "I think it will be quite useful. In the Green Zone, we were using the green camouflage tops and desert bottoms, to get the right match."

Bob Ainsworth, the Defence Secretary, said: “This new camouflage will help our troops blend into different environments in Helmand Province to stay hidden from the Taliban. Patrols take our troops through the Green Zone, scrubland, desert and arid stony environments and it is crucial that the camouflage can work across all of them.

“We are striving to provide our brave troops with the very best personal kit and equipment and the new Multi-Terrain Pattern is just one example of how we are supporting our troops on the Afghanistan frontline.”